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Marion Community Foundation 2017 Scholarships Awarded

Marion Community Foundation announces more than $291,000 in awards to 140 Marion area high school seniors and graduates in its 2017 Scholarship Program.
“This year, we are awarding 193 scholarships to local students to help them further their education and career goals,” said President and CEO Dean L. Jacob. “We are thankful to Marion Community Foundation’s donors who make these robust scholarship resources possible for the community.”

The 2017 award recipients include 92 graduating seniors from nine area high schools and 48 Marion area college students representing 22 colleges and universities. Scholarship program coordinator Julie Prettyman described the selection process as competitive and challenging.

“Every year, the number of exceptional applicants outweighs our scholarship fund resources,” she said. “Most of our scholarships are criteria-based, rather than merit-based; so, extracurricular school and community involvement is, in many cases, just as important as academic achievement. We do this to honor our donors’ intentions and award the scholarships according to the criteria they created.”

A signature award of Marion Community Foundation’s Scholarship Program – the Wopat Scholars – annually provides four-year renewable scholarships to outstanding local students. In 2017, four individuals are being recognized as Robert M. & Dorothy C. Wopat Scholars; they include: Manuel Acuna of River Valley High School, Shania Butcher and Taylor Moore of Harding High School, and Valentina Martin of Pleasant High School. Each of these students will receive a $4,000 award in 2017, which is renewable for an additional three years provided they continue to meet the scholarship’s criteria.

“These multi-year, renewable scholarships would not be possible without the forward-thinking generosity of Robert and Dorothy Wopat,” said Jacob. “Their life story is one of truly giving and believing in Marion. They, like our scholarship recipients, are MarionMade!”

The Wopat Scholar awards were created in 2010 by a substantial gift from the late Robert M. and Dorothy C. Wopat. In 2008, the Wopats donated $17 million to Marion Community Foundation to establish three funds. In addition to their scholarship fund, they created the Wopat Community Fund and the Wopat YMCA Fund, which award grants annually. The late Robert Wopat was a former chief executive with GTE who, along with his wife, Dorothy, established funds at the Foundation to improve the quality of life in Marion.

The A. B. and Hazel Augenstein Scholarship Fund is a multi-year scholarship for graduates of River Valley High School. Past recipients who qualified for award renewal this year include: Marina Maynard (Ohio State University), Mitchel Phillians (University of Akron), and Colin Smith (Ohio State University).

The 2017 Marion Community Foundation Scholarship Selection Committee consisted of Kathy Goodman (chair), Larry Geissler, Nancy Hafer, Sue Jacob, Megan Queen, and Nicole Workman. This group coordinated the selection committees of the various scholarship funds, reviewed all of the applications, and provided recommendations to Marion Community Foundation’s Board of Directors.

“We wish we could award more scholarships,” said Jacob. “We encourage the creation of new scholarship funds, which establish a lasting legacy for both the donor and future recipients. Creating a scholarship fund is easy and you certainly don’t have to be a millionaire to start one.”

Marion Community Foundation is a charitable organization which supports Marion area nonprofit organizations and local students with grants and scholarships from its 200+ endowed funds. Established in 1998, the Foundation has, in that time, awarded more than $10 million in community support. Its offices are located inside the historic Stengel-True Museum at 504 S. State St. in Marion. Office hours are weekdays 9 a.m.-5 p.m. Information is available by calling 740-387-9704 or online at www.MarionCommunityFoundation.org.